Click here for printable page   
    
Menu
 
 
     
 
  Ockerlund Industries, Inc. has received several questions concerning the apparent disparity amongst destination countries participating in the IPPC Agreement. To answer some of these questions, we are re-posting an article originally posted on 4-16-04. Hopefully this will dispel some of the confusion concerning international shipping requirements.    
     
 
International Solid Wood Packaging Regulations - 4/16/04
    
   
Global Conditions Require Sophisticated Understanding and a Tolerance for Ambiguity
    
     
  By Karen Wanamaker    
         
  The International Plant Protection Convention's (IPPC) ISPM 15 guidelines governing the treatment of solid wood packaging was designed to standardize requirements and meet the pest eradication needs of the 118 countries that were the original signatories to the agreement. Since then, another 16 nations have signed on.    
       
    Having signed the treaty, the next step was for the Plant Protection Organizations (PPO) of each country to implement a system that would be effective, practical and reliable. Soon, the United States, European Union (EU), Australia, China, Canada, Mexico and others were on the road to implementation. New Zealand was the first to complete the process; they were able to respond quickly by simply dropping the ISPM 15 regulations along side of their more stringent existing ones and telling shippers they could take their pick. The other countries named filed their intention to implement ISPM 15 with the World Trade Organization launched their internal regulatory procedures and made announcements as they made progress.    
       
    But something happened along the International trade route! One-by-one countries began changing announced implementation dates, not once, but several times. Then they began deferring enforcement, pledging lengthy phase-in periods.    
     
  It might alleviate some frustration toward this seemingly chaotic situation to understand the reasons behind some of the changes. Here are a few examples.    
         
    v Countries involved are not technically equal.    
 

Many countries in the treaty are ill-prepared to fumigate in the larger quantities necessitated by the addition of hardwood to the treatment requirements. Even fewer have access to heat treatment chambers, heat-treated lumber or the resources to purchase them. These nations have asked that the process be slowed down to give them time to prepare.

   
     
  v Implementing a solid wood packaging treatment program is not a priority for some.    
  One country for example, Haiti, was an early signer of the agreement. That country obviously has more pressing concerns at the moment. That doesn't mean, however, their country's shippers will accept exclusion from exporting their goods. There are many countries, for many reasons, lobbying the major countries of the world to delay implementation of the requirements.    
     
  v Foreign shippers are making accusations of "unfair trade barriers."    
  The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) is one of several U.S. agencies currently adding new import requirements. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is adding a multitude of new rules designed to protect Americans from terrorist attacks. Our trading partners, scrambling to adapt to the DHS regulations, have said the cumulative-effect of various agencies piling on with regulations has the impact of a trade war. They have urged a delay on non-national security regulations.    
     
  v The European Union has 10 new members.    
  The September 2003 issue of PalletCentral listed for you the current members of the EU and those countries scheduled to join this May. The European Commission, which had initially been aiming at January 2004, announced its first delay to wait until the new countries were officially joined. But the process for treatment and marking for export, and inspecting for imports, is daunting. Consider that it took NWPCA some 16 months to get our Memo of Understanding with the Department of Agriculture as manager for the industry's methyl bromide fumigation program. Some of the new EU countries were simply unprepared to meet the July 2004 deadline. So the EU announced a second delay with no target date. To complicate things further, even when the European Commission establishes a new deadline, each EU nation will need to officially announce their implementation programs and enforcement procedures.    
     
  I hope you are beginning to realize there is nothing simple about international trade. Not only is there layer upon layer of government authority, there are also varying degrees of understanding of the regulations. There is also a range of competence levels. Some countries have bureaucracies with competing interests. Add to this the fact that some countries have official and unofficial procedures that can come into play. Any one of these elements can result in setbacks and unanticipated costs for shippers.    
       
         
 
(Continued)
    
         
       
    Ockerlund Industries, Inc.- 1555 Wrightwood Court -Addison, Illinois 60101 -    
    (630) 620-1BOX/(630) 889-1BOX Fax